Thursday, January 5, 2012

A Second Chance for a Loving Dog

I would like to introduce you to Shaolin. I found her on the highway right at the holidays. The UPS driver flagged me down at an intersection and asked me to please help her. I said, "What's wrong?" She replied, "I found this dog running up and down the road, I can't keep her in my truck and she is starving. I gave her all the potato chips I had, but she is in bad shape." I looked at this pitiful, beautiful animal and thought what has happened to you. Not only was she starving, she was terribly dehydrated with a severely disfigured leg.

I scooped her up and got her home. She was in bad shape. I had to monitor her intake of food because it was obvious she had been without for a long time and I didn't want her to get sick.

I started calling the vets and Humane Society. No one had reported a dog of her description. Everyone took my information, but no calls came back.

I took her to the vet to get checked out. Her disfigured leg had healed that way from a bad break. The sad thing is the vet said she didn't have to look this way. The way it healed is the way it looked when it broke and it would have been simple and inexpensive to reset it had someone cared enough to take the time. Otherwise she was in good health she just needed some TLC.

After a few days I started noticing a change her appearance. She had wrinkles and more skin then I realized. She had a follow up appointment at the vet and he commented on how beautiful she looked. He couldn't imagine someone not looking for this Shar Pei. Shar Pei's are not cheap and are not the kind of dog you expect to see running down the highway in the country. I was a surprise that there was an add in the local paper, all the local vets knew about her and how to contact me, yet nothing. This is a small community not a city, so you know to put up a picture at the gas station or call one of the 2 vets in town.

She is absolutely delicious. She is great with the kids, potty trained and is already in charge of everyone. To many years of happiness knowing you are spoiled my girl.